


Indecisive Actions

by motherconfessor



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Heart-to-Heart, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 13:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9550322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherconfessor/pseuds/motherconfessor
Summary: the Evil Queen makes a visit to Ruby during the close of Granny’s DinerAlternate Universe of 6a where Ruby is still in Storybrooke





	

**Author's Note:**

> Posted this on my new sideblog on tumblr (beyondconfessor)

Regina –– or rather, the Queen –– steps forward in the dark, eyeing the diner.

It’s late. The shift is at a close and she watches as the little wolf wipes down the benches, tucking wayward hair behind her ear.

The Queen pauses, admiring Ruby in the dim light. It’s a shame with what’s about to happen, truly. She almost liked how the wolf strutted in her uniform.

The Queen goes to take a step forward, before catching her reflection. Everyone’s already on high alert for her. Best not to frighten the wolf so quickly.

In an exertion of magic, the corset and boots disappear, leaving with half her hair. But the suit appears upon her body and, ah, yes, she quite likes the feeling of being Madam Mayor once more. _Regina_ may not feel as comfortable in it, but the Queen enjoys the difference.

Madam Mayor is lighter, precise. She’s _grown_.

“Excuse me,” she says, knocking on the door. Ruby turns, fright lifting her features before she eases, lulled by her face, perhaps. No, she won’t underestimate the wolf. Ruby isn’t at ease, but she’s smart enough to pretend.

If Regina is honest with herself, she would say that she quite likes this version of Red. It’s not a true Red, and not quite Ruby, either, but a particular shade of both that was richer.

“Sorry,” Ruby says, pulling the door open, “I didn’t hear you walk up. In my own world, I suppose.”

She nods at the wolf, mirroring one of the sympathetic looks, “I didn’t mean to be quiet, I just thought…” she bites her lip, ducking her eyes away. “No, this was a bad idea.”

Ruby catches her wrist as she turn and it’s so delicious. Warm fingers curling over her skin, they don’t tug, don’t hold, but they’re there. How easily swayed she is. “Regina, what’s wrong?”

She turns, swallowing to look at the shoulder of the wolf, “I thought…” and she hesitates purposefully, drawing in a breath as she stares down at the waitress’ boots, “the others don’t understand what it’s like. I guess I just wanted to be with someone who might –– or at the least, _wouldn’t_ judge.”

She looks up, just in time to catch Ruby swallowing, her eyes open and unsure before a soft smile pulls against her lips. “Yeah, of course. Come in.”

She’s still not sure, not yet, but the Queen knows how to play.

“Thank you,” she says.

* * *

“Do you ever miss battle?” Ruby asks her, handing her a coffee. Regina blinks, unsure for a moment if she was being tested. “Because I do,” the girl continues, “Especially come full moon. The woods here were fine, at first, but…”

“Yes,” Regina answers. Ruby’s eyes flick to hers, holding them with a bated breath. “I miss the moment just before an attack.” She sees a curious look pressing on the wolf’s brow as she holds the suspense for just a moment. “When you’re lying in wait, or just about to storm a castle. That moment, before it begins, when the tension is in your shoulders, where you feel electricity running over you.”

_Emma_ had brought up familiar feelings when she first came to Storybrooke. Now, unfortunately, everyone lives in almost complacent bliss. It left _her_ feeling restless, agitated.

But, sure, there had been brief spits against Zelena, the Dark One and Camelot, but nothing quite like a direct challenge, head-to-head as it once had been.

“Is that what you miss the most? That feeling of being so alive?” Ruby asks her.

She considers the question for the moment, and decides to answer with, “Yes, I suppose it is.” Then, with a daring flare, she adds, “However, that’s not the most alive you feel.”

“It isn’t?”

“No. It’s in the instant just before you could die, when someone’s weapon is trained at your heart and you see their intent, their _need_ to strike through your organs. _That_ is when you become aware of every heartbeat, every breath, every twitching muscle in your body. For just a second, you become intimately aware that you’re _alive_.”

Ruby’s eyes are glowing, captivated in the conversation. “You loved almost dying?” Ruby asks.

With fierce infliction, she corrects, “I loved feeling alive.”

“I guess…I don’t know. I…” the girl goes to say something and looks to Regina, her shoulders dropping. “Am I a terrible person if I admit that maybe I…like that too?”

“You’re a person, no more or less than who you are,” she answer. Ruby smiles at her, a good, honest smile that brightens her face.

It brings a surprising warmth into the Queen’s heart, but it places a rut in her plan. She was meant to take the girl’s heart by now, make her do something like destroy Snow White during a full moon. Have the other Regina have to kill her.

But she doesn’t. Not yet. She doesn’t want to…lose her.

Regina internally grimaces at the realisation. A momentary moment of selfishness, she predicts.

“Do you feel separate from your wolf?” she asks Ruby then, and the girl pauses, her mouth a pleasant _o_ shape, that softens into a frown.

“I wish you hadn’t listen to them,” Ruby says to her. “She’s not seperate from you. She’s…” Ruby’s hand scrunches in the air, trying to find the words, before deciding on, “ _you.”_

“Excuse me?”

“Look, I know you and there’s no _you_ seperate from the Evil Queen. And that’s not a bad thing,” she quickly adds to ease any offence that may be taken

“I beg to differ,” the Queen shoots back, only because it’s what _that_ Regina would say.

But Ruby shakes her head. “You’re not whole without her. If you seperate _her_ and _you,_ what you have is two entirely seperate entities. Not Mayor Regina Mills, mother of Henry Mills and formally known to be the Evil Queen. Just…two different people with the memories of one.”

“I never liked the _evil_ part of that title,” she says, though her thoughts muse over what Ruby says. “Do you really believe that?” she asks Ruby.

“Yes! She’s as much a part of you as the wolf is of me. It’s not about _taming_ her, Regina, it’s about accepting her.” Gods, why didn’t the others ever listen to her. “And of course, teach that part of you not to murder needlessly.” Well, that moment was over fast.

Still. She doesn’t feel like using the girl her any more. Maybe she could just collar her for a bit. No, that won’t work. She should _break_ the girl, make her see what the wolf is, the way the Queen is to Regina.

“You don’t agree?” Ruby asks her, cutting the Queen from her daydreams.

“I’m not sure,” she answers. “The Queen and Regina seem like two different people.”

“Only because you feel that way. The only difference is one who lashes out with her emotions and one that refines them.”

Was that it? Regina sneered. No, there had to be more to it than just how they expressed their emotions. After-all Regina had _everything_ and then…

“Maybe you’re right,” she told the wolf. “Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Ruby said, beaming a smile at her that faded for just a moment at her eyes flickered at Regina’s lips, and then looked away. “Did you want a piece of cake, or something else?”

The Queen leant over to the wolf sitting next to her, and with the woman too surprised to move, she pressed a kiss to her lips. Ruby melted into it, her head turning to kiss her again and Regina considered, and then decided against it. “Until next time, little wolf,” she whispered.

Ruby froze, her eyes snapping wide open as Regina pulled away, standing before the wolf. “Your majesty,” she whispered, looking up at her.

The Queen laughed, disappearing in a cloud of smoke to where Zelena’s home was. Her sis was fast asleep, baby Robyn in the cradle, gurgling happily as Regina bent over to look at her.

But rather than be pleased with the turnout, or angry at her fallen plan, a curious thought edged in her mind.

Ruby hadn’t looked scared by the realisation.

The little tidbit only served to make the Queen aware of how _much_ she wanted to collar Ruby. Sink her teeth in that pretty white skin.

Somehow, she had managed to find herself fond of the woman. Perhaps if she had known her before Snow had gotten her _hope_ -filled hands onto Red, she would have been hers. She could have been her lieutenant.

She still could be…


End file.
